HONG KONG, March 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- To promote deeper appreciation of Chinese culture among local youths, Youth Square is conducting a six weeks "Dunhuang Youth Internship Programme" with culture immersion in Dunhuang. The programme encourages youths to explore the culture gems of Dunhuang and the registration is now open.

The internship programme is organised by the Home Affairs Bureau in conjunction with Youth Square and fully supported by Dunhuang Academy. It will be held from 16 June 2019 to 27 July 2019 and there are 16 Dunhuang internship positions available for local university students. The six-week training programme delves into areas such as Dunhuang's humanities, geography, and other specific subjects. Interns will also get to engage in field work to polish up their explanation skills and work together as a group on a creative project to promote Dunhuang. They will have a chance to personally experience and understand Dunhuang's conservation efforts for rock caves, murals, and the environment. By this opportunity, interns can interact with Dunhuang researchers and learn from professional guides on how to better introduce the facts and details about places of interest to tourists, and develop themselves into bona fide Mogao Caves guides.

Tommy Tsang, who joined as an intern for last year's programme, comments that interns will come out of the programme with a deeper knowledge of Dunhuang's history, culture, and cave structure. Another intern, April Lee, who majors in linguistics and translation, expresses gratitude to the programme for allowing her to apply the knowledge she learned in the classroom onto the real world. She says, "Striving to provide clearer explanations to tourists honed my linguistic abilities. More importantly, the work I did as a guide allowed them to understand Dunhuang's culture. They will talk about their visits to others, which will help to spread information about Dunhuang far and wide."

Home Affairs Bureau sponsors the expenses for round trip air tickets, accommodations, insurance, and exchange activities for youths taking part in this programme. Full-time students between the ages of 18 to 29 currently attending a Hong Kong university who are interested in Dunhuang's art and culture should register for selection with a multimedia creative work based on the theme, "Promoting Dunhuang's Culture". Registration will be open until 31 March 2019.

Since 2016, Youth Square has launched a series of "Discover Dunhuang" activities, including exhibitions, tour guide training, art creation, sharing sessions, and many others in order to increase awareness among the younger generation about Dunhuang's cultural and conservation efforts. Besides these avenues, youths who have proven to be interested in Dunhuang are selected as "Dunhuang Art and Cultural Ambassadors" and get to personally travel there to interact with the locals. Youth Square has successfully organized three "Art and Culture Learning Trips" and led 60 young and aspiring Dunhuang Art and Cultural Ambassadors to Dunhuang for visits. Through close contact with researchers from Dunhuang Research Academy and other young tour guides, these ambassadors have learned more about Dunhuang's history, arts, and culture through invaluable hands-on experience. The "Dunhuang Youth Internship Programme" was first introduced in 2018 with the goal of encouraging youths to experience the culture and conservation of the long-established Silk Road up-close from its starting point both in times past and the present - Dunhuang.

Youth Square is conducting a six weeks "Dunhuang Youth Internship Programme" with culture immersion in Dunhuang. The programme encourages youths to explore the culture gems of Dunhuang and the registration is now open.

Information of the "Dunhuang Youth Internship Programme" by Youth Square

New World Facilities Management Company Limited is a non-profit making company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of New World Group (HK Stock Code: 00017). Embracing the mission of youth development and supporting youth to contribute to society, we strive to develop Youth Square as the platform for youth to exchange knowledge and experience and to develop and discover their potential.

Youth Square

The Youth Square, which came into full operation in 2010, is a youth development project of the Home Affairs Bureau of the HKSAR Government, with an aim to be the hub of diversified youth development activities for youth to develop their potential. Youth Square facilities include the 643-seat Y Theatre, Y Studio, multi-function areas and the Y Loft which has 148 guest rooms. Youth Square has been conducting over 180 themed events under "Music & Dance", "Arts & Culture" and "Community Engagement". Youth Square has been holding over 9,700 youth events and served for more than 1.8 million participants since 2010. In addition, with participants came from more than 80 countries or regions, Y Loft has been providing accommodations for more than 260,000 youths who participated in various exchange programmes in Hong Kong. Youth Square is located in Chai Wan and is managed and operated by New World Facilities Management Company Limited on a non-profit making basis.